MEMBER DIARY

Tim Kaine: Not Ready for Prime Time

Kaine Can't Be Happy When Home State Papers Trash Him Like This

Rumor is that Barack Obama will soon announce Tim Kaine as his vice presidential nominee; I tend to agree with Jim Geraghty that Republicans ought to welcome such a selection. If Obama chooses to double-down on lack of experience and foreign policy credentials, it can only improve the contrast with John McCain.

But why make that argument myself when one of Kaine’s local Virginia papers can make it so much more effectively? From the Lynchburg News and Advance:

Kaine as VP? Surely, Obama Is Only Jesting…Tim Kaine? Governor just since January 2006? Lieutenant governor for four years prior to that? And previously the mayor of Richmond? That Tim Kaine?Surely the Obama camp is pulling the nation’s leg…He has been an admirable governor of Virginia, a decent man with a strong moral compass who’s guided by his deep faith, a politician willing to fight for his programs against often-intransigent foes (e.g., the transportation and the head-in-the-sand wing of the GOP in the House of Delegates). But vice-presidential material, nay, presidential if the need arose? Please.As Obama’s running mate, though, he would bring little to the table, few strengths that would blunt Obama’s own glaring weaknesses.Kaine’s own political career would just highlight the Illinois senator’s shallowness as a candidate. The governor, though, at least worked as an attorney in private practice in Richmond before winning a seat on City Council in 1994.

If this is any indication of the coverage that an Obama/Kaine ticket could expect in the Old Dominion, then Obama shouldn’t count Virginia’s electoral votes just yet.